Make your welly boots more cosy, comfortable and fun with these cabled welly toppers featuring short row shaping, provisional cast-on and three needle cast-off.
Materials:
Two 50g balls Rowan Tweed or approx 100g DK weight yarn of your choice (both sizes should knit from slightly less than 100g with most yarns). Choose a soft yet hard-wearing yarn if you like to wear your boots with bare legs! Three 4.5mm knitting needles. Small ball of smooth waste yarn in a contrasting colour if using provisional cast on.
Special abbreviations:
sm - slip marker.
C6B - slip next 3 st to cable needle & hold to back, k3, then k3 from cable needle. C6F - slip next 3 st to cable needle & hold to front, k3, then k3 from cable needle.
Tension:
18 st and 32 rows to 10 cm over garter stitch.
Size:
size 3-7 (Euro 35-39) - calf 36-39 cm / Large UK Size 7 1/2 - 12 (Euro 41- 47) - calf 40-4: These sizes are based on the published sizes of Hunter wellies; check against your own pair before finishing.
Note on finishing:
I have chosen to use a provisional cast on and three needle cast off, to create a strong yet almost invisible seam to the cable section. If you prefer, you can graft the seam, or simply cast on in your normal way, and knit until you have completed the desired number of full pattern repeats, then cast (c) Miranda Jollie aka hanwellknitter 2012 off and join seams using back stitch. Bear in mind this will be more visible and less resilient than the three needle version. You can of course use another method of provisional cast-on if you prefer but I like this method as it is easy to explain and uses familiar techniques.
Pattern (knit both the same):
Cast on 36 stitches using waste yarn and knit 4 rows in stocking stitch. On final row (wrong side), place marker after 16 stitches (20 st before end) Break yarn and continue using main yarn. \*\* Row 1 - k20, sm, p4, k to end Row 2 - p12, k4, sm, k to end Rows 3 & 4- as rows 1 & 2 Row 5 - k20, sm, p4, C6F, C6B Row 6 - p12, k4, turn Row 7 - p4, k12 Row 8 - p12, k4, sm, k to end Rows 9 & 10 - as rows 1 & 2
Repeat from \*\* 11 times (small) 12 times (large), or until you have 3cm less than desired total diameter of welly topper. Repeat rows 1-8 once more. Leave stitches on needle and break yarn. Carefully remove provisionally cast on stitches by unpicking the last row, from cast on edge and, using other needle, pick up 35 stitches from the loops formed at the start of the main yarn. If you pick up the stitches as you remove the waste yarn it is easy to see which loops to pick up. Pick up one extra loop from the edge stitch of the cable edge. You should now have 36 stitches on your needle. Take your 3rd 4.5mm needle and work 1 row as follows from picked up stitches - k12, p4, k20. With wrong side facing, work a 3 needle cast off to join work into a loop. Sew in ends.
